Three more convicted in Armenian Power fraud, extortion schemes

Christine Mai-DucThis post has been corrected. See the note below for details.

Three men with ties to the Armenian Power gang were convicted in federal court this week for their roles in a vast racketeering conspiracy and a sophisticated debit card skimming scheme that targeted thousands of customers at 99 Cents Only stores across Southern California, authorities said.

Two leaders of the gang -- Mher Darbinyan, 38, known to some as “Capone,” and Arman “Horse” Sharopetrosian, 35 -- were convicted Thursday of racketeering conspiracy and extortion, as well as a slew of other related charges, according to an announcement from the U.S attorney for Central California.

The two men worked together to shake down a member of the Armenian community, using threats of violence and at one point arranging for the victim’s kidnapping at gunpoint, prosecutors said.

From his prison cell at Avenal State Prison, Sharopetrosian helped direct the extortion scheme with the help of smuggled cellphones.

The victim paid the pair more than $20,000 over six months, according to prosecutors.

Darbinyan, of Valencia, also operated a check fraud ring, targeting bank accounts of businesses and elderly people, and organized the elaborate card-skimming enterprise, in which devices were installed at 99 Cents Only discount stores to steal customers’ debit card information and PIN codes.

Rafael Parsadanyan, a 29-year-old Los Angeles resident and an associate of the gang, was also found guilty Thursday of 14 counts of bank fraud for helping Darbinyan run the card-skimming operation, collecting and storing the money and delivering a payment of $34,000 to a fellow scammer.

The convictions represent some of the last few cases remaining from a sweeping investigation that involved nearly a dozen federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Glendale Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the IRS.

Federal prosecutors indicted 90 people in 2011 for crimes ranging from kidnapping and extortion to identity theft and passing counterfeit checks. Of the group, 85 have now been convicted.

Darbinyan was found guilty of 57 criminal counts, including bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He faces a maximum of roughly 973 years in federal prison. He is due in court for sentencing on July 21.

Sharopetrosian, who was convicted of three counts -- racketeering conspiracy, extortion conspiracy and extortion -- could be sentenced to 60 years in federal prison when he returns to court for sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 15.

Darbinyan faces a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for each of his 14 counts of bank fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced July 14.

The Armenian Power street gang -- known for murders, fraud schemes, robberies and intimidating witnesses -- rose to prominence out of East Hollywood in the 1980s, its members consisting primarily of individuals of Armenian descent and those from other countries in the former Soviet bloc, prosecutors said.

[For the Record 10:20 a.m. PDT April 18: An earlier version of this post reported that the victim paid his extorters more than $100,000. The victim paid more than $20,000.]